WaPo: BuzzFeed's Trump Hit Contains 'Glaring Unprofessionality'

In his rundown of the back and forth between BuzzFeed and Donald Trump, Washington Post media reporter Erik Wemple rips the left-wing site for what he describes as a “glaring unprofessionality.” This piece of “glaring unprofessionality” is nothing less than the BuzzFeed article’s opening sentence:

And [the Buzzfeed article] does contain at least one glaring unprofessionality. Coppins slimes Trump’s aides in the story’s first sentence: “Donald Trump is sitting in the passenger seat of a black SUV packed with four well-dressed yes-men — and me — as we wind through the snowy roads of Manchester, New Hampshire on a quiet Tuesday morning in January.”

These fellows may well be yes-men, but are they more yes-mennish than aides hovering around any other non-politico politico? The demeaning and churlish label, furthermore, amounts to a cheap venture in narrative “telling” when “showing” would have worked much better.

This isn’t the first time McKay Coppins, the author of BuzzFeed’s Trump hit, has found his journalistic ethics questioned.

In the heart of the 2012 presidential election, Coppins, was caught on a hot mic ripping Republican Mitt Romney.

Early last year, Coppins was accused by of lying by no less than The New York Times’ David Carr and Reuters’ Anthony De Rosa. Both were furious over the way Coppins portrayed them in a profile about the gun culture.

In a Breitbart News article that goes behind-the-scenes of the BuzzFeed hit on Trump, numerous on-the-record sources reveal that, during his time with Trump, Coppins acted unprofessionally — especially with women. They also warn other potential BuzzFeed sources to be wary about giving the dishonest site access:

If you are a Republican, if you are a Democrat, if your are from the green party, an independent, the tree-hugger party, or any other party, you should never ever grant BuzzFeed access to anything in light of this piece. Anyone shouldn’t. And, if fact, I have friend who works at [an official Democratic Party campaign committee] who called me up and said ‘he [Coppins] looks like an idiot for what he did for this. This could burn his career.'”

Considering the growing number of ethical complaints against Coppins and BuzzFeed, this is sound advice.